Conservation Leadership Programme - update by Robyn Dalzen

By Conservation Le..., Mon, 13/09/2010 - 10:38

The summer is winding down here in the northern hemisphere, and what a busy summer it has been! The CLP team spent a month in Alberta, Canada, where we hosted this year’s international training course for 2010 Conservation Award winners and participated in the 24th annual International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB).
The training course took place at the University of Calgary’s biological field station just outside of Banff National Park. The scenery was spectacular; and above and beyond that, we had an extraordinary group of 30 CLP award winners, including a number of CLP alumni who participated as interpreters.
After two weeks of training, the group emerged with new knowledge, a huge amount of excitement and a strong sense of camaraderie – to the point they did not want to leave. Thankfully, our time together did not end there.
We loaded a bus and made our way to Edmonton for the ICCB, where we were joined by 20 additional CLP alumni, bringing the total count to 50. From this group, nearly 30 gave oral or poster presentations and the CLP presence was felt throughout the Congress.
Believe it or not, despite having just met this year’s winners, we are ready to start the process all over again! We are pleased to announce that the CLP is now soliciting proposals for 2011 Conservation Awards. The deadline for proposals is November 15th, 2010 and materials can be found on our website, including Guidelines for Applicants and an offline application form (details must be transferred to our online application website, which will be ready in October).
Enjoy reading about the progress of current CLP-supported projects – from participation in the International Ornithological Congress in Brazil to the sighting of a rare toad in India that hasn’t been seen in 10 years.
Robyn Dalzen, Executive Manager